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SCBWI-Houston Conference 2017
Well, another great conference has come and gone. I splurged this year, as my schedule has been very hectic and promises to get worse. I took advantage of the special offer and booked myself into the Marriott Hotel where the conference was being held on the night before and stayed till Sunday. Very nice accommodations…
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We Are Not Ourselves
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas My rating: 3 of 5 stars The writing is vivid, beautiful, even nearly poetic at times. BUT it is all third-person, character point of view internal musings. There is little or no dialogue. There is a lot of telling and not enough showing in the character development. We…
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The Family You Choose
Last November, in 2016, I took the NaNoWriMo challenge and wrote over 50,000 on a novel. It was an exercise. I wanted to see if I could discipline myself to putting out a certain number of words every day. I also wanted to write a story with more action and complications than I normally write…
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Directing MST Production of Gunderson Homage to Jane Austen
Main Street Theater announced its season to include “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” as its second production, following Gorky’s “Enemies”. I’ve agreed to direct it and am very excited to once again be working with the characters from Pride and Prejudice and the work of Lauren Gunderson. Having performed in Lauren Gunderson’s “Silent Sky” a…
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Post-Harvey
In the aftermath of the devastation that was Hurricane Harvey, and similar losses in Florida, it may be time to honestly assess what is important to us. Television streamed a 24-hr a day summary of disaster, seasoned with kindness. Those of us who waited and watched the water rise, resigned to possibly losing our homes…
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Deadly Thyme, by R.L. Nolen
Detective Inspector Jon Graham is sent out from London to take over surveillance of the local constabulary in a sleepy little Cornish village where everyone seems to have secrets. A 10-year old girl disappears from the beach while gathering seashells with a friend. The investigation and her mother, a mysterious American who turned up in…
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The Secrets of Flight, by Maggie Leffler
Both characters tell lies and live with secrets. Mary has come to her position through a random remark made to one of the other tenants of the building where she moved after her doctor husband’s death. She was never an editor at a publishing house. But she was a flyer for the Women Air Service…
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Gooney Bird and All Her Charms, by Lois Lowry
This chapter book is part of an award-winning series. Gooney Bird is an eccentrically dressed second-grader with a Type A personality . She is surrounded by a number of outspoken prankster classmates and an infinitely patient teacher. Think Pippi Longstocking in Kindergarten Cop.
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YA Reads for January
All three of these novels are engaging, well-written and have characters of a similar age, social group, who need to be loved or admired for themselves.
Claire Hart-Palumbo
When words really matter…
Claire Hart-Palumbo 